(-) When I came back home from the trip to India, I was skinning, dark, and looked like somebody else other than me at the time left with happy baby face. When I showed up in the office, my colleagues were shocked and asked "is that you?" An Indian-origin colleague said instead "Come on, she is back from India, she is luck enough back home without losing an arm or a leg"。
I did actually hurt myself on the knee through a once-life time experience, jumping off the train. It sounds like an action movie, but it did happen on me. I will never believe it before the India trip if somebody tells me that I will be brave enough to jump off a train, which is almost on its full speed of running.
I planned very carefully on every single trip in inland India since I wanted to see as much as I can within a short period of time of 20 days in a country with big enough territory and long enough history. I bought air tickets on Indian airline for most of my travel, except of the road to and back of Bihar, where Buddha prophesied. I have to go to Bodhgaya in Bihar state, my dream land since I started the reading of Buddha's teaching. Bihar has however become one of the poorest places and one of the few places inaccessible by airplane in India, following the decay of Buddhism when only 0.1 % of the Indian populations are Buddhists nowadays. I was dreaming about my trip to enjoy good food, beautiful sceneries, rich culture and nice people. I completely ignored the warning from an Indian-origin colleague, "You want to have food Indian food in India, forget it", but I do remember the advice he gave to me about taking a train in India, "Just board the train even you are told that there is no seat available. Once you are on, find the conductor and give him some money, tell him that you have a reservation, and then ask him to find a place for you". I met exactly the situation and I followed exactly what he has suggested. On my way from Calcutta to Vaishali, a holy city to Lord Shiva on the bank of holy river Ganga, I was told there was no seat available. But I insisted to pay the reservation fee. With the paid reservation without a confirmation of seat, I stayed in a first class waiting room. When I stepped into the room, a little girl who was sleeping on a big table suddenly stood up and watched me. When I sat down, she came and sat besides me. “You know, the train is always late. My Mom, Dad and my little brother have been waiting for 5 h already” she told me “we don’t know when the train will arrive”. “Where are you going to?” I asked. “My Dad, Mom, my little brother and me will go to Darjeeling” “It is a beautiful place” “I am really looking forward” she said “Where are you going to, where are you from? You know sometimes the train is on time. I can ask my father to find out when your train will arrive. My father knows lots of people because he is working in a private bank.” A very smart girl from a middle class Indian family!
My train did not arrive unexpected on time, it arrived expected 5 h later after the schedule. After a few days’ experience with Indian airline, I am perfectly used to a 5 h delay for a train, no surprise at all. Thinking about that only nine of the 10 flights I took on Indian airline during 20 days were delayed 3-6 h and thinking about that I spend half of my every second days in average in India’s airport, here and there, all bare spaces with only some plastic chairs. It is nothing for a train to be late for 5 h.
A few years later, when a female Indian colleague was complaining to a French lady about the airport in Paris “it is so dirty with toilet paper everywhere”, the French honestly agreed. This French woman has no idea about the airport in India, it is simple an empty space. There is no toilet paper in the toilet; it of course cannot be seen anywhere else. That is the middle class Indian. As one of them said “they are the craziest group of people. They have some money but not much. They are higher than somebody, but still in the middle. They complain, they want more, they complain, and they want more” The worst Indians are the middle class. Unfortunately they represent the biggest Indian population.
I did actually hurt myself on the knee through a once-life time experience, jumping off the train. It sounds like an action movie, but it did happen on me. I will never believe it before the India trip if somebody tells me that I will be brave enough to jump off a train, which is almost on its full speed of running.
I planned very carefully on every single trip in inland India since I wanted to see as much as I can within a short period of time of 20 days in a country with big enough territory and long enough history. I bought air tickets on Indian airline for most of my travel, except of the road to and back of Bihar, where Buddha prophesied. I have to go to Bodhgaya in Bihar state, my dream land since I started the reading of Buddha's teaching. Bihar has however become one of the poorest places and one of the few places inaccessible by airplane in India, following the decay of Buddhism when only 0.1 % of the Indian populations are Buddhists nowadays. I was dreaming about my trip to enjoy good food, beautiful sceneries, rich culture and nice people. I completely ignored the warning from an Indian-origin colleague, "You want to have food Indian food in India, forget it", but I do remember the advice he gave to me about taking a train in India, "Just board the train even you are told that there is no seat available. Once you are on, find the conductor and give him some money, tell him that you have a reservation, and then ask him to find a place for you". I met exactly the situation and I followed exactly what he has suggested. On my way from Calcutta to Vaishali, a holy city to Lord Shiva on the bank of holy river Ganga, I was told there was no seat available. But I insisted to pay the reservation fee. With the paid reservation without a confirmation of seat, I stayed in a first class waiting room. When I stepped into the room, a little girl who was sleeping on a big table suddenly stood up and watched me. When I sat down, she came and sat besides me. “You know, the train is always late. My Mom, Dad and my little brother have been waiting for 5 h already” she told me “we don’t know when the train will arrive”. “Where are you going to?” I asked. “My Dad, Mom, my little brother and me will go to Darjeeling” “It is a beautiful place” “I am really looking forward” she said “Where are you going to, where are you from? You know sometimes the train is on time. I can ask my father to find out when your train will arrive. My father knows lots of people because he is working in a private bank.” A very smart girl from a middle class Indian family!
My train did not arrive unexpected on time, it arrived expected 5 h later after the schedule. After a few days’ experience with Indian airline, I am perfectly used to a 5 h delay for a train, no surprise at all. Thinking about that only nine of the 10 flights I took on Indian airline during 20 days were delayed 3-6 h and thinking about that I spend half of my every second days in average in India’s airport, here and there, all bare spaces with only some plastic chairs. It is nothing for a train to be late for 5 h.
A few years later, when a female Indian colleague was complaining to a French lady about the airport in Paris “it is so dirty with toilet paper everywhere”, the French honestly agreed. This French woman has no idea about the airport in India, it is simple an empty space. There is no toilet paper in the toilet; it of course cannot be seen anywhere else. That is the middle class Indian. As one of them said “they are the craziest group of people. They have some money but not much. They are higher than somebody, but still in the middle. They complain, they want more, they complain, and they want more” The worst Indians are the middle class. Unfortunately they represent the biggest Indian population.
选择“Disable on www.wenxuecity.com”
选择“don't run on pages on this domain”
